US House Committee Votes to Shift Forward on Anti-CBDC Bill

A Republican-led effort to prevent the creation of a U. S. central bank digital currency ( CBDC ) moved forward on Wednesday, as the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act passed out of the US House Financial Services Committee with a 27-22 vote.

Sponsored by Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the bill seeks to minimize the Federal Reserve from issuing a modern money, citing concerns over economic security and the conversion of the central banks into a retail bank entity. &nbsp,

The bill likewise bars the Fed from directly deploying a CBDC through brokers and directly prevents it from using online forex as a resource for monetary plan.

Emerson spoke in support of the expenses during the premium program, telling the Chairman that the state should never be involved in the business of creating equipment for financial security.

” Unlike distributed cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, a CBDC is a modern form of royal money that is issued, monitored, and managed by a northern bank”, he said. &nbsp,

” In short, a CBDC is government-controlled programmable funds that, if designed without private privileges of money, could give the federal government unilateral power to monitor Americans ‘ transactions and limit politically unpopular action”.

Unlike decentralized cryptos like Bitcoin, a CBDC is a government-issued digital currency running on a state-controlled ledger. &nbsp,

Critics —and Emmer is chief among them—warn that it could open the door to surveillance of how citizens spend their money and programmable features that could prevent individuals from spending their money how they wish.

Fierce opposition to a potential CBDC in the U. S. signals growing momentum among privacy hawks and crypto-friendly lawmakers who view a digital dollar as a Trojan horse for financial control.

” Power-hungry bureaucrats will stop at nothing in their quest to gain control over the very people they’re supposed to be working for”, Emmer said, pointing to concerns China will use its digital yuan to track citizens ‘ spending and Canada’s 2022 freezing of protester bank accounts.

Emmerson first introduced the leading Republican bill to ban CBDCs in January of 2022. The legislation passed the U. S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress.